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Dream Cast: Who Should Star As Marvels’ Runaways

Now that it’s official that Marvel’s first true Marvel/Disney co-production – as well as first post-Avengers project – will be the much-anticipated Runaways, we’re wondering: Who should star in the movie?

It’s somewhere between obvious corporate synergy and mild contrariness, but personally, I want to see the main roles handled by various Disney Channel moppets showing if they’ve got dramatic chops past High School Musical or Jonas or whatever; give me Demi Lovato (with a dye job) as Karolina! One of the Sprouse twins as Chase! I’m running out of Disney actors I’m familiar with for the other roles, but I’d be very surprised if there’s not a good Molly Hayes somewhere in there! That said, I’d look elsewhere for Nico – Specifically, Glee‘s Jenna Ushkowitz. I have no idea why, but I think she’d be great in the role.

Meanwhile, the parents offer the best chance to get some well-known faces in the movie, and I’d look to the Harry Potter movies for guidance on how to do this properly: Character actors who can handle the required melodrama-without-overacting, and who aren’t well-known enough to overshadow the main characters in the movie – Or, alternatively, go for the geek-friendly actors who always seem to be everywhere but don’t have a permanent home these days (Why, hello, James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter as Chase’s parents. I’m sure the Buffy fans in the audience would be happy to see you).

But that’s enough about my random plans – What (and who) would you want to see heading up the Runaways movie? Fill the comments with your ideas, and hope someone from Marvel is reading.

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Comments

heck, i had thought for a second that the filming had already started when i saw the poster for the current runaways movie. the logo is even close to the comic's. i cant remember the girls' names in the movie, but they both looked kind of convincing for karolina and nico, actually.

I really think they should cast unknowns for the roles. I don't know, that's what feels right for Runaways in my mind. Then they can use the money they didn't spend on getting bigger-name Disney stars on more A-list talent for the parents and special effects (if Old Lace doesn't look fantastic in this, I will be super frustrated).

Please please please for the love of all that is Holy, DO NOT use Disney regulars for a project as well-loved as this. We need actors, not plasticine tweens who've been spoonfed fame for years.

Olliec92

if this is a heavily influenced disney film, as an AVID follower of the runaways, near obsessive, I will stab Walt Disney's frozen corpse

Washout

I think many Disney actors are perfectly capable of pulling off these roles.

Olliec92

Charlyne Yi for Nico, DEFINITELY!

Olliec92

Chloe Moretz would make a good Molly I think

Olliec92

but…. why?

Olliec92

haha oh my lordare you serious? this would be catastrophic, Sterling Knight would make a hideous chase, Tahj Mowry would not be able to play Alex, he is FAR too big and buff, Alex is a small very dark skinned African American. Just because Allie Grant is fat does not mean she would be able to play Gert effectivly, she would ruin her, and just because Genevieve Hannelius is young doesn't mean she would make a good Molly. I don't know anything about Alyson Michalka but this brings me to my final and biggest outrageBRENDA SONG AS NICO?! WHAT A FUCKING JOKE, you make me literally sick, if Disney follows any of this casting I will personally boycott Marvel for the rest of my days.

Olliec92

I agree completely

demoncat_4

given its going to be one of the first projects by Disney and marvel i would just take the idea of using some Disney stars and also like the idea of a few of the glee stars also like the actress who plays sue as one of the pride. Debbie would not work with with a dye job as Karolina. though brenda would work as nico prove she can play more then airheads.but Marvel may just stick with what has worked for them for casting their films.

starman

Aubrey Plaza for Gert

woot

Elle Fanning for Molly.

She's naturally hyper and cute as hell. And she's amazing at rage outbursts.

Its a good thing you didn't over react there Ollie. That would have been embarassing….

Question Mark

Would be nice, but then they'd most likely mask the fact that Karolina is a lesbian.

Fiasco

Washout's post literally made you sick? Wow.

Myron

I agree with the main basis of your point. I want to see actual teenagers playing teen characters not 20-somethings playing 15 and 16. Say what you want about the Disney Channel shows but at least the characters on those shows are played but people close to the age of the characters they play.

arsenix

This is being co-produced with Disney, they could very well cover up the lesbian storyline even if it is live action. How many GLBTQ characters has Disney had, anyways? I can't think of any, but admittedly, I don't really 'follow' Disney.

DashBadH

Chloe Moretz would make a good Layla Miller (if Marvel decides to make an X-Factor TV series). Breslin could probably nail Molly, but I think she's too old already.

Horkology

Yeah, I have no idea why everyone here is suggesting all these 24-27 year olds. That would be terrible! This isn't Grease (or Glee, for that matter).

Glósóli

Amanda Bynes is retired.

Glósóli

I think Skins' Hannah Murray would be a great Karolina, if shes not too old by the time they film it.

Aww what if they made it a Musical! I see nothing but bad things with this. :(

Generalgrievous365

Abigail Breslin or Chloe Moretz for Molly. Anyone else can be unknowns, but i agree that Old Lace must be perfect. Though I do like Mae Whitman for Gert.

Sillysili2010

Agree! Chloe does look the part.

Soakle

Please dear lord do not cast Disney regulars for a project such as this. Brian K Vaughn wrote an amazing story with great characters that shall not be ruined by big hair and blank faces and I don't really see it as a kids movie. I'd rather go with the unknowns to see what new talent they can come up with.

JTMaxwell

well, like Harry Potter, i say a healthy dose of unknowns as our kids would be good. but here are the “names” i think would work best for a few of the roles (don't know many of the current “teen crop” of actors, especially on Disney)…

Brenda Song is leaving Disney next month when her show wraps up filming, she's starring in a David Fincher (the Oscar award winning genius behind Benjamin Button, Panic Room, Se7en, etc.) directed Columbia Picture's film, 'The Social Network' with the new Spider Man Andrew Garfield. Shia Labeouf and Tobey Macguire were originally planned to star with her. SUCK ON THAT, HATER!

She plays an arsonist (burns stuff) and hard working Ivy League student, she also starred in 21st Century's Fox Like Mike as a poor orphan.

She's really talented and SMART, she graduated when she was 15 from school and she started university at the age of 16. She has real brains and she's beyond athletic, she's an All American Scholar and a BLACK BELT in martial arts, she has more accolades than anyone in Hollywood in MARTIAL ARTS.

Watch Wendy Wu, she can kiss ass.

BTW DISNEY WON'T CAST THEIR STARS IN THE MARVEL MOVIE.If Brenda wants the role, she'll have to audition for it numerous times and do a physical evaluation like every other actor and she's not even big name in the cinema world.

Disney won't offer her the role, genius. Disney Channel stars don't get offered starring roles in big budget theatrical films by Marvel. No ONE will cast Sterling Knight in anything as big as this. Brenda is the only former/current Disney star to get cast in big budget, buzzed about major theatrical films (since has already nabbed starring roles in big budget, major studio theatrical films and she does martial arts in a new theatrical film called Boogie Town which is really 'Marvel'-esque).

She's technically not with Disney anymore, her contract is over forever in 1 week.

DISNEY WON'T INTERFERE WITH THE CASTING AND STORY! DISNEY ONLY BOUGHT MARVEL! THEY WON'T CHANGE MARVEL! THE STORIES WILL REMAIN THE SAME! THE LESBIAN STORYLINE WILL STILL BE THERE!

BRENDA DOES A LOT OF SEX, DRUGS, ALCOHOL, ARSON, VANDALISM, SMOKES IN HER NEW SONY PICTURES/COLUMBIA PICTURES MOVIE, THE SOCIAL NETWORK!THE SOCIAL NETWORK WILL BE OUT WHEN BRENDA FINISHES WITH DISNEY IN OCTOBER 2010!

DAVID FINCHER, THE MAN WHO HAS DIRECTED MILLIONS OF OSCAR, BAFTA, GOLDEN GLOBE, EMMY AWARD WINNING MOVIES, THINKS SHE IS TALENTED ENOUGH TO STAR IN HIS MOVIES, BTW THE SOCIAL NETWORK IS PREDICTED TO WIN LOTS OF 2011 OSCARS, SO IS BRENDA!

JUST BECAUSE BRENDA PLAYED AN AIRHEAD IN THE SUITE LIFE FRANCHISE DOESN'T MAKE HER ONE! SHE GOT PAID MILLIONS FOR THE SUITE LIFE AND HER MOM HAD CANCER SO SHE DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO AUDITION FOR MARVEL-LIKE MAINSTREAM MOVIES!

FUCK OFF, BRENDA SONG AS NICO IS NOT A FUCKING JOKE, FUCKER.

BRENDA IS AN ACTRESS, HER JOB IS TO ACT AS SOMETHING SHE'S NOT. STARRING ON A DISNEY CHANNEL SHOW DOESN'T MAKE YOU A TALENTLESS WASHED UP HO. BRENDA ISN'T EVEN A TWEENYBOPPER SINGER! she's not HANNAH MONTANA, SHE DOESN'T MAKE TWEENYBOPPER POP SHIT like MILEY CYRUS!SO FUCK THE HELL OFF!MY HOPES ARE UP FOR BRENDA SONG TO NAG THE ROLE OF NICO!

Dan

Disney won't have any more to do with this on the creative end than they will with any Marvel project. This is just the first the film to be fully green-lighted since the purchase. And just because an actor has worked for Disney does not mean that he or she is a “Disney”-style star, with whatever associations you make there. Other actors who got their start with Disney include Keri Russell, Ryan Gosling, and Shia LeBeouf. Everybody starts somewhere; how about seeing what they can do outside of shows aimed at pre-teens before condemning them?

I really hope Disney doesnt ruin this film. And any of their “Disney kids” WILL ruin it.This is my favorite comic. And it could be made into a film brilliantly. It was pretty much already in perfect storyboard format. All it needs is some good actors. Without good actors this movie shouldnt be made. The hardest to play is going to be Molly. And i nominate the girl from Kick-ass.

TheDragon

because umm maybe they arent good actors. Disney picks kids based on how they look. Sure there are those good two or three actors that they have. Those are the ones that are going to make it in the industry. I think when people such as myself condemn them, its because we generalize. Disney stars tend to over-act. And if you cant dig that….

lordoracle

A friend and I were discussing this Saturday. Since most picture deals now seem to be for 3 pictures; the first movie should be about the kids discovering the truth about their parents and dealing with that. You can drop the Topher story along with the Cloak and Dagger. Probably have to drop the gods who the Pride were dealing with. Second movie could be the return of the Pride or bringing in Victor/Ultron from the second series of comics. Third movie could be when Karolina's race come to arrest her. They should hint at her being a lesbian in the first (like they did in the comic), and then bring her out in the second.

I would say do each movie as sort of a synopsis of each series (much like they are doing with Airbender). The only problem is that series 3 had so many different stories it was a little choppy.

Of course, I'm interested in seeing a Disney sponsored film including a positive major character like Nico who has no choice but to keep cutting herself to get her staff.

lordoracle

You do realize that the Old Lace will most likely be CGI due to the fact it's a dinosaur?

oc-creative

Blake Lively or Heather Morris as Karolina!

Beow101

You do know Andy Serkis has played CGI characters in the past? Plus … joke!

Brian From Canada

Michelle Trachtenberg would make a good Karolina because she still looks that age. So long they do not mention Zak Efron for any of the kids' roles I would be very, very, very happy.

But I *REALLY* love your choices for The Pride. Avery Brooks would make a great head of the cabal.

Skapunkboi19

I've said many times that all the kids should be unknowns, so that can keep them the right ages, if they want to fill the cast with stars do it with the parents.

Dto2865

OK…if this new Runaways project were to be cast with Disney (Channel) stars, here's my cast:

Nico Minoru: Nicole Anderson (“JONAS/JONAS L.A.”) or Brenda Song (“The Suite Life…”, “Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior”)Karolina Dean: Emily Osment (“Hannah Montana,” “Dadnapped”), Chelsea Staub (“JONAS/JONAS L.A.,” “MinuteMen”) or Tiffany Thornton (“Sonny With a Chance”)Chase Stein: Hutch Dano (“Zeke & Luther,” “Den Brother”) or Sterling Knight (“Sonny With a Chance,” “Starstruck”)Alex Wilder: Brandon Mychal Smith (“Sonny With a Chance,” “Starstruck”) or Doc Smith (“The Suite Life on Deck,” “Tyler Perry's House of Payne”)Gertrude Yorkes: Jennifer Stone (“Wizard of Waverly Place”)Molly Hayes: This is the only role that would have to be cast with a new, young actress from within the Disney stable…

Please note: I chose the above actors based upon acting chops, not on whether or not they're big names within the Disney Channel stable. If that were the case, then I would've leans towards bigger names like Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez or even Miley Cyrus.

Pyro

I'm just going to say that as an aspiring actor I hope I can audition for this movie.

Olliec92

I agree with Calbretto :)

NirvanaTeenSpiritFuck

If she can't act, then why are highly respected film critics from publications like the Wall Street Journal and Vanity Fair predicted that Brenda and her major theatrical film, The Social Network (which also stars the new Spider Man Andrew Garfield) predicted to get 2011 Oscar nominations?Why did David Fincher, the man behind movies that have won the highest amount of Oscars (BENJAMIN BUTTON) and THE Aaron Sorkin cast her in the movie as one of the leads?

Who knew comic nerds are this dumb? :)

NirvanaTeenSpiritFuck

''If she can't act, then why are highly respected film critics from publications like the Wall Street Journal and Vanity Fair predicted that Brenda and her major theatrical film, The Social Network (which also stars the new Spider Man Andrew Garfield) predicted to get 2011 Oscar nominations?''

What I meant is if she truly can't fucking act, then why is she so convincing as a dumb bitch? Why are major respected critics predicting that she will get Oscar noms for The Social Network?

I'm not picking the girl because her ancestors are from Asian, I'm picking the girl because she has talent. I've seen many Asian American performers, they all SUCK hard. Anyone with balls can see that.

I'm a comic nerd, btw AND proud!

kickthec*nts

Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez are not bigger names.Brenda Song is bigger than both of them combined, go look at international online search trends.

you know if thora birch wasn't old (Well not totally old but old to play a 15 year old)then she would make an EXCELLENT Gert (look her up in “Ghost World”)

though i think the guy who plays Spinner in Degrassi should play Chase because Chase is this beefy, sort of plays dumb, goofy guy…and Spinner is exactly like that (Well on Degrassi anyway)

I really think that unknowns would be best, like Skins style (well in the way they play real teenagers going through situations) it almost has to be reality and just rough, you know?

I have a question for you guys, if they decided to change people's characters to a different skin color or a different height or weight, would guys be offended (ie. Nico isn't Asian, Gert isn't Jewish, Alex isn't Black…or Gert isn't overweight…blah blah) or as long as they can act it doesn' t matter?

I am a HUGE fan of the comics and I was wondering if fans (like they did with Airbender) get so offended and start some huge rally aganist this movie because of the different styles…

JTMaxwell

thanks, i'm glad someone got it. ;)

JTMaxwell

i was thinking it would be funny, if they get this far into it, to have Zac Effron as Topher. ;)

glad you liked my Pride picks! some jumped out at me (like Brooks), others took some thought but then seemed obvious. hope it goes as smoothly for the casting directors!

JTMaxwell

it would bug me if they white washed the whole cast. if they rearranged the diversity (Alex is Latino, Gert is Asian, Chase is black, etc.), maybe not as much. and they can easily cast a Gentile actress but keep Gert Jewish as a character. they do that all the time (and vice versa). but i'd definitely prefer they stick as closely to the original as possible.

Lurkete

Karolina: Mia Wasikowska!!!

Gum

haha washout your funny

theredandwhite

OMG I think Ellen Wong would be a perfect Nico! I just saw her in Scott Piligrim vs. the World and she was really good!

I think Nikki Blonsky would be too big for Gert. I know Gert is suppose to be “fat” or “chubby” but she isn't really big…(i am not discriminating!)

Jackson Rathborne seems too old to play teenagers anymore, plus Chase is so jockish/surfer dude and Jackson is more mysterious and charmingly handsome, while Chase is more surfer/californian/beach handsome.

I agree with people for unknowns, it would make it very exciting

theredandwhite

yeah

unknowns would give it more of a realistic look to the movie and the who plot of the comics: ordinary teens that discover their parents are villians.

I mean recognizable faces are good for a production, but if they want to make this as real as possible, using new faces could really work for them.

Yeah stars as parents would be cool, bring more of the adults into this movie. You need at least some recognizable people because otherwise people will not look twice at it.

xpexila

omg no brenda song, nico isn't even asian!!!

xpexila

Agreed. I hate watching Disney completely destroy everything that is awesome. Although Disney did a halfway-decent job on the Pirates of the Carribean trilogy… so maybe there is some slight hope yet. Though if they cast Disney Moppets in this, I'm going to be very pissed.

xpexila

It has nothing to do if they look the part. Any makeup artist can make anyone look the part. It has to do with acting style. If the actor's style is completely different then what the character they're trying to portray is, then it wont work out no matter how similar in physical appearance they are to the character. You need to chose on acting style AND THEN look at physical similarity. I think that's why everyone on the planet fails miserably at casting and that's why regular people don't cast movies.

xpexila

It's a Disney project. Probably not. I have a horrific feeling that this will be a movie greatly enjoyed by the masses of idiots who have no idea the Marvel backgrounds involved. But to all true Marvel fans, well, we shall all be crying by the credits.

Ask Productions

The casting directors are picking UNKNOWN actors to play the leads so stop freaking out people.

Ask Procutions

And by the way, just because the movie is being produced by Disney does not mean Disney Channel is going to be associated in it. With the director being the guy who directed Nick and Norah's Infintite Playlist, I really doubt that ANY Disney Channel actor will be in Runaways.

Sophisticatedlillady_13

THey should use new faces. The new faces might bring something good to the plate.

Nuadin

I have to agree with Ollie, maybe not to that extreme but I don’t really care for that casting. Then again… I don’t really like the whole disney crowd being put in this movie. I honestly don’t believe they can give a comic movie justice and are too “teener boppy” for my liking. Yeah this is a young adults movie, but this comic has never had a problem with keeping things mature and real.

Nuadin

I wouldn’t say she can’t act but Niko seems to go outside the general character she plays. She has a theme generally. It would be hard for me to see her juggle both Badass-ness and Confused personalities that Niko has. It would be interesting, sure. But I am very fond of the runaways storyline and I just can’t see this actor as being Niko. But then again I’ve only seen her in pre-teen movies. And though this movie is for young adults, it still keeps that maturity level.

I’ve never seen her act in anything serious… can you give me an example?

99kid

Genevieve Hannelius is too old or will be too old to play Molly by the time this film starts production. I think Brighton Sharbino (look her up if you don’t know) is a better idea for her and I actually saw on marvel movies wikia that Allie Grant might actually be cast as Gert. So other than your cast for Gert, I don’t agree with any of the others but good job anyway!

Lorrie

As a dedicated Runaways fan, who owns every comic book in the series, including Civil War and Secret Invasion. I am begging you. Please for the love of all things decent, do not, use Disney actors. It would be tremendous let down to an entire audience of fans.